Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: DAILY BUTTERFLIES Page 73, 1 by mellielong

mellielong wrote:
Yes everyone, your butterflies will come back. We had a couple of Monarchs working at it this weekend at the museum! I love pointing out butterfly sex to people. You should have seen the look on the (teenage) volunteer's face when I demonstrated that yes, Monarchs can indeed fly while having sex. Priceless!

I went in on Saturday instead of my usual Sunday because today Dad and I attended the annual depression glass show. The museum wasn't too crowded but we had a steady stream of visitors. There were lots of families and luckily I brought in my sulphurs - the one caterpillar I have left is the only one big enough to handle. We have lots of first instar Monarchs and Zebra Longwings, but I like to have something the kids can pet. Okay, the adults like to pet them, too. I had one lady who was terrified of caterpillars and couldn't believe I was just letting one crawl on my hand. Her boyfriend was braver though, and he let it crawl on his hand.

I had three Cloudless Sulphurs emerge so I added those to the flight cage so we'd have a bit of diversity. The Virginia Peppergrass is looking good; I'm keeping my eyes open for Checkered Whites.

Here's the Monarchs in love!